Michigan man sues parents over trashed porn collection

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — A man now living in Indiana is suing his parents after he says they destroyed his valuable porn collection.

WXMI is choosing to identify the plaintiff in this story as "Charlie," as this is a civil case without any associated criminal charges.

The case dates back to October 2016 when, according to a lawsuit filed this week, Charlie moved into his parents' home in Grand Haven after going through a divorce. Charlie apparently stayed for 10 months in their home, doing housework in lieu of paying rent. He was asked to leave after police had to be called to the house in August 2017 for a domestic situation.

His parents allegedly traveled in November 2017 to his new place in Indiana to drop off possessions he had left at their home.

Charlie said his parents told him that they destroyed the entire collection. A collection that consisted of over 12 moving boxes full of adult movies.

The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office was eventually called about the destroyed items. Charlie filed a police report estimating the value of his collection to be $28,940.72. The prosecutor's office declined to file charges against his parents.

Just a month after filing a police report, Charlie apparently began corresponding with his father via email. Telling him in part, "If you had a problem with my belongings, you should have stated that at the time and I would have gone elsewhere. Instead you choose to keep quiet and behave vindictively."

His father, according to the lawsuit, responded, "Believe it or not, one reason for why I destroyed your porn was for your own mental and emotional heath. I would have done the same if I had found a kilo of crack cocaine. Someday, I hope you will understand.”

Charlie's father said in one email his son was allegedly kicked out of high school and college for selling porn to other students. Saying in the documents, "I also warned you at that time if I ever found pornography in my house again, I would destroy it."

Charlie, apparently feeling the situation unresolved, reached back out to investigators -- allegedly sending one officer 44 emails' worth of movies he said were destroyed, listing many as valuable out-of-print films, writing, "Not Just Out of Print. But the entire studio making it dissolved, and that was 20 years ago."

The prosecutor's office again declined filing charges.

Charlie is now suing his parents for a total of $86,822.16 in damages.

WXMI reached out to the attorney representing "Charlie." They have no comment at this time.